The Centre on Sunday appealed to all states to permit the operation of more special trains for stranded workers so that they can reach home in the next four days, as six more people died during the country-wide exodus of migrants who are facing hardships and even risking their lives to travel during the coronavirus lockdown.
The Railways said it has operated 366 such 'Shramik Special' trains since May 1 and ferried around four lakh migrants.
The opposition Congress asked the government to show more empathy to migrants and protect them during the crisis, saying what is happening to them is "perhaps the greatest human tragedy of our times".
Despite the Centre allowing special trains for stranded migrants who wish to return to their native places, the sheer numbers are overwhelming and many of them are taking the unofficial route of private vehicles or are trekking for hundreds of kilometres in the summer heat.
At least six migrant labourer were killed and 14 others injured when a truck in which they were travelling overturned in Madhya Pradesh's Narsinghpur district on Saturday night.
The labourers were going in the truck laden with mangoes to Jhansi, Etah and Barabanki in Uttar Pradesh from Hyderabad, police said.
More From This Section
The incident came close on the heels of 16 migrant workers, who were sleeping on rail tracks while returning to Madhya Pradesh, being crushed to death by a goods train in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra.
The migrant workers, rendered jobless due to the coronavirus lockdown, were walking along the rail tracks apparently to escape police attention.
In Delhi, police detected nearly 100 migrants hiding inside two trucks in a desperate bid to reach home in Bihar, and arrested the drivers.
The trucks were intercepted near Southeast Delhi's Kalindi Kunj on Saturday night. One of the trucks had 63 migrants and the other was carrying 34, they said.
The truck were going to Lakhisarai and Madhubani districts, the police said.
The Mumbai-Agra highway passing through Nashik in Maharashtra witnessed a traffic jam early Sunday morning as hundreds of stranded people tried to make their way back to their native regions in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
Eyewitnesses said people were either packed to the brim in private vehicles or were seen hailing passing vehicles to hitch rides. While many of those on the roads were not wearing masks, some were too close to each other in violation of social distancing norms.
Similar scenes, including of people walking in groups and cycling, were also witnessed on Nashik-Pune and Nashik-Aurangabad highways, they said.
Several videos of the movement of migrants on these highways were circulated on social media as well.
Railway Minister Piyush Goyal appealed to all states to permit the operation of migrant special trains so that the stranded can reach home in the next three to four days.
The appeal comes a day after Home Minister Amit Shah wrote to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to allow such trains to run.
"As per the directions of Hon'ble PM @NarendraModi ji, Railways is fully geared up to run 300 Shramik Special trains everyday at short notice since the last six days.
"I appeal to all the states to give permission to evacuate and bring back their stranded migrants so that we can get all of them back to their homes in the next 3-4 days itself," Goyal tweeted on Sunday.
Senior railway officials say the national transporter has a capacity to run around 300 trains per day ferrying around 20 lakh migrants in a maximum of five days.
However, they said, clearances from states are not forthcoming, especially from states like West Bengal and Rajasthan, which till now have accepted the least number of such trains despite being a significant source of migrant population.
Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba also sought cooperation of the state governments in running special trains for transportation of stranded migrant workers.
He was speaking during a video conference with chief secretaries and health secretaries of all states and Union territories to review the status of COVID-19 management.
Shah had on Saturday had accused the West Bengal government of not allowing trains to ferry stranded migrants to their home, but the state refuted the charge, saying 6,000 migrants had already returned and 10 trains carrying more labourers would arrive soon.
At an online press conference, Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said that migrant labourers were hit the worst by the pandemic as they were given only a four-hour notice for the lockdown.
Instead of presiding over the plight of migrant labourers, the government should rescue them as they have been left with no choice but to walk hundreds of kilometres to return home, she said.
She said almost 50 days into the coronavirus lockdown "we continue to wake up to see heart-wrenching visuals" of people without footwear and food walking to their homes.
Visuals of pregnant women, little children, people atop a goods truck, those crushed to death while walking home on railway tracks have been deeply worrying, she said.
"What is happening to our migrant labourers is perhaps the greatest human tragedy of our times," Shrinate said.
The Railways said it has operated 366 'Shramik Special' trains since May 1 and ferried home around four lakh migrants stranded in various parts of the country.
While 287 trains have already reached their destinations, 79 trains are in transit, they said.
Out of these 287 trains, 127 terminated in Uttar Pradesh, 87 in Bihar, 24 in Madhya Pradesh, 20 in Odisha, 16 in Jharkhand, four in Rajasthan, three in Maharashtra, two each in Telangana and West Bengal, and one each in Andhra Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh, the officials said.
These trains have ferried migrants to cities like Tiruchchirappalli, Titlagarh, Barauni, Khandwa, Jagannathpur, Khurda Road, Chhapra, Balia, Gaya, Purnia, Varanasi among others.
Every Shramik Special train has 24 coaches, each with a capacity of 72 seats.
However, only 54 people are allowed in a coach to maintain social distancing norms and the middle berth is not allotted to any passenger.
Since the Shramik Special train service started, Gujarat has remained one of the top originating stations followed by Kerala.
Among the receiving states, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh remain the top states.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
